Ben Gill

Rocket Fund: Launching stage 2 - the 1 Mile Project

Following a successful first pilot of Rocket Fund, we’re now launching stage 2: the 1 Mile Project. We’re partnering with Edspace, to bring Rocket Fund to London's Tech City.

What is the 1 Mile Project?

The 1 Mile Project is the second stage of our Rocket Fund pilot, aiming to support the 61 schools within a one-mile radius of EdSpace (a co-working space dedicated to education, based in the middle of Tech City) by bringing them together with the 4,000 businesses around them.

We want to test whether businesses will be prepared to match fund school crowdfunding projects and if locality has an impact on propensity to give.

See a map of schools in the 1 Mile Project below.

Why are we doing this?

To bring communities together: to enable people to support their local school

To empower teachers: so they can buy what they think will have the biggest impact on their students' education

To advance education: by enabling everyone to access the latest products

What do we want to test with this pilot?

Our third major assumption for Rocket Fund: Will corporates/organisations also support schools? (On Donors Choose, the US crowdfunding site that Rocket Fund was inspired by, 50 per cent of funding comes from corporates and foundations and we feel this support is vitally important).

A go-to-market strategy for Rocket Fund: focusing on specific geographical areas. We think that people are more likely to donate to school projects they have a connection with. Beyond personal connections, we think that a geographical connection (ie: the school nearest your home or office) will be the next key factor that inspires people to donate.

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